My Little Rider: Friendship is Joker

by lilAngel

Intervention - L? Oh…

Princess Celestia stood on her balcony, looking with a faint smile at the dawn light. For once the colours of the sunrise weren’t entirely her doing, but were filtered through a dust storm on the distant plains. It was beautiful in its own understated way. For all the sunrises she’d orchestrated, she still never knew when the skies would present her with an unexpected masterpiece. And after nearly half a million dawns, she still never performed her duty without a little glow of pride.

On this particular day, she watched the morning light creep from orange gold through glittering bronze before she turned and strode back into her chambers. She had another task to deal with, less regular but also less predictable, and for those reasons almost as vital to the continued contentment of her subjects. Sitting neatly on her desk was a missive from her student and possible successor, Twilight Sparkle. This particular letter was quite hefty, the scroll looking somewhere around thirty pages, so Celestia had put off opening it until she had a full day to devote to extracting fact from speculation.

Of course, she could ensure that the reports were more closely focused on the truth by letting Twilight know what – and who – they were up against. But a lot of the things she had learned about the Gaia Sprint so many years before were precious secrets, knowledge that could do so much harm if it got into the wrong hooves. As much as she wanted to give her student the head start she had so often wished for herself, she could not allow herself to gamble the future of Equestria on the trustworthiness of Twilight Sparkle. Or, much more important, and also less certain, on the ability of the other Champions of Harmony to keep a secret.

Some time soon, Celestia would need to speak to Twilight Sparkle alone, and to tell her the truth. She would only hope that Twilight’s irrational trust in her friends wouldn’t blind her to what needed to be done, if they were to stop the influx of the new G4 memories. In many places trust could be a virtue, but here it would only make the hard choices harder. So for now, Celestia knew she would spare her student. When the Gala came, maybe, she would take Twilight into the Museum again and show her the records that hinted at the identity of their adversary. A scientific mind would surely not reject hard evidence in favour of her feelings.

But waiting meant that Celestia must read each of these reports as they arrived, and find a way to dole out any information that would be of use to the six without revealing secrets that she couldn’t afford to share. And from the size of the scroll, she’d seen when it first arrived, this one was probably the biggest yet. But now…

Celestia stared at the package on her table, and blinked slowly. The scroll from Ponyville looked as thick as ever, but the box beside it she had not been expecting. She paced slowly closer, looking at it from every angle. The box itself was red wood, highly polished and assembled by a skilled craftsman. The ribbon around it was rich blue, and the wax seal on the top was Twilight’s, just the same as the letter. She would have assumed the two had arrived together, if the box had been there just a few moments before dawn.

She reached out with her magic, and broke the seal. It was intact, and the wax clung to the top of the box. If this parcel was not from Twilight Sparkle, it was at least from somepony who had access to her stationery drawer. That was not necessarily a good sign. Still, nothing would be gained by leaving this box closed. She opened the lid, which swung out on miniscule brass hinges, and withdrew what lay within. She looked at the crystal for several moments, running through every possible thing she could say.

Her first thought was that Twilight had sent her the fractured Gaia Memory of this week’s dopant, for her own study. But it took only a second to realise that this one was not broken. Her second glance was enough to recognise what her magic was holding. She had seen it, and used its powers, for years. Even if she had never held it herself, there was no way she could mistake the Lunar Memory. But there were still many things that could mean.

“Sister?” She whispered, gambling on the most outlandish scenario.

“Yes. Thy seal broke with the awakening of the Eternal Dopant, if thou rememberst.”

“And you come seeking revenge for your exile?”

“We have surrendered our Elements, and wish to serve our subjects again. You hold the Lunar Element now, as we – I – can no longer trust our judgment.”

“You trust mine?” Celestia smiled at her sister for the first time in a thousand years.

“No. You sabotaged the Driver, you gave those six an incomplete, unstable power. You ensured they could not –”

“It was necessary, you must have realised the –”

“But yes, dearest sister,” Luna cut her off, “In the matter of my Element and my mind, I must trust you. Can you trust me?”

“Of course not. But I will try to blind myself, as Twilight Sparkle does so readily, and hope that my faith will be rewarded.”

Author's Note:

Yay, another thumbs up. Every single one makes me smile.

If there's anything in particular you like, or any episodes (from either show) you'd rather not miss out, then please let me know.

Comments

[ponylover2]

7054784 ok can't wait